“Central to Eveleigh” includes a stretch of publically owned land known as the Australian Technology Park, which among other things, houses the Eveleigh Locomotive Workshop, a heritage-protected site for wrought-iron and steel craftsmanship. “Project” means a collective enterprise carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. The aim, in this case, is the privatisation of public land and profit for the NSW Coalition government, with lack of transparency about the ends to which that profit will be put. “Team”, a word perhaps suggesting cooperation but in reality a team comes together to compete; and with whom? For Expressions of Interest that promise the greatest return to the government coffers? And the jewels in the crown, “online”, meaning not engaging with real people, and “hub”. These days we can’t move for the multiplicity of hubs, “effective centres of activity”, all incredibly active, but not particularly effective in preserving national heritage, public property or innovative government-funded initiatives. But it sounds so getting to grips – with their own agenda.
It is well to remember that the kind of “development” promoted by UrbanGrowthNSW comes at the price of deconstruction of both public ownership and of a rich local culture, as well as the abandonment of earlier and finer visions of the future. Trendy websites with current buzz words create an impression of consultation, and that is the limit of their achievement.
Catherine Skipper
Redfern
